Sailing vessels have existed for centuries. While modern sailing vessels have taken advantage of the progress made in materials and methods science, the fundamental operation of a sailing vessel remains the same. That is, depending on wind conditions and direction, a sail or sails must be raised, lowered, or trimmed to optimize the performance of the craft. In order to properly operate such a vessel, the direction of the wind must be observed and reacted to on a real time basis. One common method for indicating the direction of the wind is a wind direction indicator mounted at the top of a mast. During daylight hours it is relatively easy to see the wind direction indicator, but at night some means must be used to make the determination. One method used to accomplish this is a light that illuminates the wind direction indicator mounted at the top of a mast.
Contemporary sailing vessels use some form of wind direction indicating device many of which are mounted at the top of the main mast. This direction indicating device generally takes the form of a vane, or an arrow that points toward the direction from which the wind is coming. As noted just above, during daylight hours this vane is quite easy to see, however, at night a light must be turned on to illuminate the vane.
Many types of vanes are in general use, but one common feature is that they all use a light source connected to some form of switch with wires running between the two for control. The switch is located in the cockpit so that a user can turn the light source on when required.
At this time, the majority of the light sources in use are of the incandescent lamp type which have a short service life when compared to alternative types of illuminators. Thus one disadvantage of the contemporary methods is that the light source has to be changed more often than with alternative types of illuminators. Also, because there are wires and switches involved, these too are susceptible to damage and need to be maintained from time to time.
What would be desirable would be an illuminator that would mitigate or, even better, eliminate the disadvantages. The present invention provides such a solution.